The third annual Second Life MOOC (SLMOOC16) will take place from April
1-30, 2016 on WizIQ (click here to access the course). The theme of the
current MOOC is “Connecting in Virtual Worlds. Communities of Practice”
There is a plethora of communities in virtual worlds promoting education
and learning through connecting online via web technologies such as
Second Life. The MOOC will focus on connecting online for collaborative
learning and teaching around the world through virtual worlds like
Second Life, .Minecraft, or OpenSim. The live presentations will include
the speakers’ reflective process on teaching and learning in fully
online and blended learning formats.

SLMOOC16 is for educators, schools, and public and private
businesses that wish to provide training in virtual worlds. Weekly
badges and a final certificate of completion will be available for free.

Dr. Nellie Deutsch (Ed.D)

Nellie
Deutsch (Ed.D) combines teaching as a way to learn, education
technology, and mindfulness. She’s internationally known as a
relationship-based coach, mentor, consultant, researcher, author,
speaker, community builder, expert in educational technology for fully
online and blended learning programs using Moodle, WizIQ, Google drive
and active learning presentation tools that focus on teaching as a way
to learn.
Her speaking engagements include technology for instruction and
learning, collaborative learning, mindfulness, self-compassion, and
authenticity. She organizes MOOCs, free online conferences, webinars,
and courses for educators worldwide. She’s been teaching English as a
fore...

Much of this frenzy of access is facilitated by mobile devices. Nearly three-quarters of teens have or have access1
to a smartphone and 30% have a basic phone, while just 12% of teens 13
to 17 say they have no cell phone of any type. African-American teens
are the most likely of any group of teens to have a smartphone, with 85%
having access to one, compared with 71% of both white and Hispanic
teens. These phones and other mobile devices have become a primary
driver of teen internet use: Fully 91% of teens go online from mobile
devices at least occasionally. Among these “mobile teens,” 94% go online
daily or more often. By comparison, teens who don’t access the internet
via mobile devices tend to go online less frequently. Some 68% go
online at least daily.

African-American and Hispanic youth report
more frequent internet use than white teens. Among African-American
teens, 34% report going online “almost constantly” as do 32% of Hispanic
teens, while 19% of white teens go online that often.

Facebook
is the most popular and frequently used social media platform among
teens; half of teens use Instagram, and nearly as many use Snapchat

Facebook remains the most used social media site among American teens ages 13 to 17 with 71% of all teens using the site, even as half of teens use Instagram and four-in-ten use Snapchat.

71% of teens use more than one social network site

Teens are diversifying their social
network site use. A majority of teens — 71% — report using more than one
social network site out of the seven platform options they were asked
about. Among the 22% of teens who only use one site, 66% use Facebook,
13% use Google+, 13% use Instagram and 3% use Snapchat.

This study uses a somewhat different
method than Pew Research Center’s previous reports on teens. While both
are probability-based, nationally representative samples of American
teens, the current survey was administered online, while our previous
work involved surveying teens by phone. A great deal of previous
research has found that the mode of interview — telephone vs. online
self-administration — can affect the results. The magnitude and
direction of these effects are difficult to predict, though for most
kinds of questions, the fundamental conclusions one would draw from the
data will be similar regardless of mode. Accordingly, we will not
compare specific percentages from previous research with results from
the current survey. But we believe that the broad contours and patterns
evident in this web-based survey are comparable to those seen in
previous telephone surveys (leer más...)

EduOpen
is a network of qualified academic institutions offering
university-level courses. Course attendance is always free and open to
everyone and attendees can obtain various qualifications: Attendance
Certificate, Verified Certificate or formal University Credits (Italian
CFUs or ECTS). All students who complete a course are entitled to a
digital badge issued by Bestr, a CINECA badge factory.

Research and innovation are key to building a prosperous future for the
EU. They therefore figure prominently in the Europe 2020 strategy and
the European Semester process and underpin progress towards the 10
priorities of the Juncker Commission, from providing a new boost to
jobs, growth and investment, to developing the digital single market and
developing the Energy Union. The EU has fantastic strengths. It is
open, diverse, and hosts excellent institutions. With Horizon 2020, the
Union funds research and innovation on an unprecedented scale. But we
face three major challenges. First, we need to strongly improve our
track record in getting research results to market and technologies
developed in Europe are often commercialised elsewhere. Second, although
Europe generates more scientific output than any other region in the
world, we often fall behind on the very best science. Third, Europe
punches below its weight in international science cooperation and
science diplomacy. This report presents an in-depth indicator based
analysis of the EU’s science, research and innovation performance and
provides insight into the underpinning factors and drivers. It provides
extensive evidence of the EU’s performance in relation to each of these
three challenges. The Report shows, first and foremost, that the EU’s
productivity gap with the US has widened following the economic and
financial crisis and that this is linked to a relative underinvestment
in R&D and an inability to re-orient the economy towards activities
with a higher knowledge content. While the report shows that the EU
continues to be one of the world’s major players in science and
technology, it also shows that the EU’s economy needs to become more
dynamic and innovation-intensive